In this article on Business Insider, the American TV watching trends are showcased. The author notes that the same thing happened to newspapers in a similar fashion – the drop off in revenue happened very quickly.

400K people have dropped pay TV in the first half of 2012.

21% have cut or shaved the cord.

VZ launched FiOS in 2004 with service turned up in 2005. After 7 years and billions of dollars not just in fiber rollout but marketing, CPE and installation, VZ has finally hit 4.5 million TV subscribers. ATT is still behind Charter with 4.1 million.

You would be better suited to bundle a Netflix or Hulu Plus or Amazon subscription into your broadband service. Or go the hardware route and sell Boxee, Roku and other devices that allow for streaming Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, Pandora.

A head-end will be expensive and the content will be even more expensive to compete against DirecTV or DISH, both of whom would gladly pay you for sign-ups.

FYI, FiOS TV is not IPTV, but regular QAM transmission. There widgets run on IPTV, though. ATT U-Verse is IPTV.

Peter Radizeski is a telecommunications consultant and analyst with RAD-INFO INC.
Service Providers have called on RAD-INFO INC for assistance building a channel, improving sales, managing online marketing efforts, and overall company strategy.
Contact RAD-INFO INC at 813-963-5884 or https://rad-info.net

A couple of articles came my way about sales training not working. I had to read it, because, well, I perform sales training. I’d like it to be a win-win, although I realize that for years studies show that sales training only leaves nuggets with the trainees.

“For sales people to change what they do and how they do it, they must first decide there is a need to change.” [source]

There has to be buy-in from the trainee. Otherwise there is resistance – and no change happens.

The other is that a habit has to be formed. Hearing new ideas is great, but you have to integrate that idea or learning into your habits. Otherwise nothing happens.

Another one from this article is Unique Needs. I have heard a couple of times that my training is different than Sandler, despite the fact that I believe in the Sandler approach. I think it has to do with the Product based sales training that I provide. It is granular and not as theoretical.

As we are in 4Q2012, what can you do to punch sales in the last quarter of the year?

One idea: Create an end of year sales contest, with individual and team goals.

Peter Radizeski is a telecommunications consultant and analyst with RAD-INFO INC.
Service Providers have called on RAD-INFO INC for assistance building a channel, improving sales, managing online marketing efforts, and overall company strategy.
Contact RAD-INFO INC at 813-963-5884 or https://rad-info.net

One of the new MVNOs is Solavei.”Solavei is a pre-paid wireless service that operates on T-Mobile’s network. Anyone can sign up without a contract or any commitments. The monthly fee is $49 which will get you unlimited talk, text, and 4 GB of data before you get throttled. It works pretty much like any other pre-paid service, with one major exception,” writes this article. It has an MLM sales engine – referrals with a punch, I guess. Solavei also encourages folks to bring their own T-Mobile phone – you get a free SIM to make it work with Solavei.

The other data MVNO is an old ISP fan: “NetZero Wireless, Inc., a subsidiary of United Online, today announced the launch of the NetZero 4G Data Share program. Through this new program, any of Facebook’s millions of U.S. members can sign up at www.netzero.net/datashare and receive one free gigabyte of wireless data per month to give away to their friends via Facebook. All of the free wireless data that is given away can be claimed by the Facebook member’s friends through the NetZero 4G Data Share app and can be used by NetZero 4G Mobile Broadband subscribers with any data plan, including the 200MB/month free plan.” A little bit of social sharing built in.

Peter Radizeski is a telecommunications consultant and analyst with RAD-INFO INC.
Service Providers have called on RAD-INFO INC for assistance building a channel, improving sales, managing online marketing efforts, and overall company strategy.
Contact RAD-INFO INC at 813-963-5884 or https://rad-info.net

Need help assisting your small business customers with cyber-security planning? The FCC has a plan generator here.

Peter Radizeski is a telecommunications consultant and analyst with RAD-INFO INC.
Service Providers have called on RAD-INFO INC for assistance building a channel, improving sales, managing online marketing efforts, and overall company strategy.
Contact RAD-INFO INC at 813-963-5884 or https://rad-info.net

Dan Finnigan from Jobvite has a good presentation out about employment in the US. I like the stats about Education as well. Take a look.

When we talk about job losses in the US, how much is from automation and how much is outsourced? How many unemployed are now freelancing? How will you acquire the talent you need to grow your business? How will you attract (or recruit) the right talent?

Peter Radizeski is a telecommunications consultant and analyst with RAD-INFO INC.
Service Providers have called on RAD-INFO INC for assistance building a channel, improving sales, managing online marketing efforts, and overall company strategy.
Contact RAD-INFO INC at 813-963-5884 or https://rad-info.net